When nothing is too much trouble for hotel staff

FROM snooping in your luggage the second you leave your room to asking some rather unexpected things, this is what happens when hotel staff go too far.

Awkward! When hotel staff go way too far

THINK ‘butler’ and an image of an Englishman in a morning suit might come to mind.

The transitional manservant was once a highly formal individual who served drinks on silver trays. But today’s butlers are vastly different — they’re more like a personal concierge who is responsible for a vast array of duties. The best of the best are able to tailor their service to accommodate for the individual needs of their guests.

Three years ago on a trip to Bhutan, a country hidden between India and China, I had my first experience of staying in a hotel that included the 24-hour service of a private butler.

Having never had a butler before, I wasn’t sure how I would fit “having staff” into my plans. I looked to the hotel brochure for some direction — it said the butler is there to “ease you through your arrival, organise excursions and activities, and arrange meals”.

Soon after check-in, the receptionist introduced me to Pema, a 30 something Bhutanese man. As I expected, he took my bags up the garden path from the main reception centre to my private villa.

He placed them in the large bedroom that looked out over the valley — and I followed him, wondering if I should tip him.

Then he bent down and started untying my shoelaces. I had just got off a flight from Sydney to Bhutan via Bangkok so I was a bit worried — will my feet smell? Are the toes out of my socks? He took my leather shoes over to the shoe rack near the front door and carefully places them down. Then he almost ran back. What now? Then his gaze shifts to my bag.

Tiger’s Nest is one of the main tourist attractions in Bhutan.

“Would you like me to unpack your bag?” he said.

I told him I’d be fine to unpack. “But Mrs Leah it’s very nice to have someone unpack your bag”, he said.

So I told him to go right ahead. I roamed around the villa looking for something to do and found the kitchen. I wanted to make a cup of tea but I hesitated — Pema would probably want to prepare the beverages. So I twiddled my thumbs, and after 15 minutes I returned to find my clothes hung perfectly in the cupboard — including my undies.

And then I saw the bathroom — Pema had also unpacked my wash bag. This included the tampons, which now sat like a round of ammunition, stretching across the length of the sink.

I could see Pema standing proudly nearby, smiling. I wondered once again if I should I tip him.

Bhutanese locals are friendly, and I learned a lot from my butler Pema.

Next, I decided to eat in the room, given I was tired from the flight and the room was a stunner.

I ordered off the menu and after a while Pema arrived with my meal. He placed the beautiful dishes on the table and poured a local Red Panda beer. And then he stood next to the table.

I asked if he’d like to join me to share the meal. He politely declined — no doubt it was against hotel rules for service staff to dine with a guest.

At first eating in front of Pema was odd, but then we start talking. I learned about his young daughter and his desire to travel outside of Bhutan.

“Mrs Leah I have never seen the sea,” he said.

We have a lovely conversation, and our strange butler-guest relationship started to morph into a friendship. We swapped email addresses.

“Now Mrs Leah, would you like me to prepare the bath?”. Why not, I replied.

I finished off my beer while Pema was in the bathroom. I walked in to find the egg-shaped bath filled to the brim with bubbles and topped with spring flowers. It was a stunning sight.

I started to wonder when he was going to leave — the villa had it’s own “butler door” that was off the kitchen. Eventually he left.

I closed the bathroom door. Thankfully Pema doesn’t return to pull the plug and I didn’t see him until the next day when he brought me my morning coffee.

Andit seems my butler experience is not that unique — here are some other incredible services offered in luxury hotels.

Social media butler

The Madison Hotel in Washington DC has made a tradition out of creating lavish package “deals” around the presidential inauguration designed to produce the ultimate customer experience.

During the inauguration of President Obama it offered a four-night package that came with a social media butler.

The butler’s job involved following the customer around and chronicling his or her inaugural experience on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. This means when you’re out exploring or partying you don’t have to reach for your iPhone — you can just call on your butler to snap the shot and tweet it out.

Human bed wamer

While some staff confess to taking a nap in unsuspecting guests’ beds, others are actually employed to be a human bed warmer.

On request, a member of staff at the Holiday Inn Kensington Forum in London dons a special head-to-toe suit and hops into guests’ beds for five minutes before they retire for the night, moving around under the sheets to create a nice and cosy sleeping environment.

Tanning Butlers

Guests at the Ritz-Carlton Miami can enjoy the services of a tanning butler. His job: to stroll around the hotel pool and nearby beach and offer tanning supplies to guests. Oh, and to also apply the tanning lotion on hard-to-reach body parts like backs, shoulders, and necks.

But sometimes hotel staff aren’t the stuff of a traveller’s dream ...

Now you see it, now you don’t

Talk about taking things too far — a colleague had a surprising experience with hotel staff when staying in Singapore a couple of years ago. Upon arriving back in her hotel room after a day of sightseeing, she went to use her moisturiser.

It was a brand new, pricey jar. But to her shock, she opened it to find the entire contents had been removed.

They had been through her bag. And perhaps they decided to take the moisturiser, and place it into a container of their own? It was a strange feeling. And from then on, she ensured she locked her bag when venturing out of her room.

Housekeeping staff taking a kip

A hotel maid, who works at a five-star resort in Orlando, Florida, recently told travel website Trivago.com.au what the job is really like. When asked if staff take naps in the rooms, she said they do if they’re really tired and they have time. And, as many might expect, they do use the bathroom if nature calls.

“Something else we do sometimes is that we use the toilets in the guest’s bathroom, but only if we are super-busy and don’t have enough time to go to the staff toilets. It is something we are not supposed to do but many do it anyway.”

And sometimes curiosity gets the better of them and they have a peek at guests’ belongings.

“We are told that we are not allowed to touch anything that belongs to a guest, but we are also told that we must make the bed and change the towels.

“So if a guest has belongings on the bed or on top of the dirty towels, sometimes you have to move them,” she said.

I wonder how long it took the staff to get those towels lined up so perfectly?